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Laminitis treatment: A practical approach

For equine practitioners, treating laminitis may seem like an unrewarding task that can leave patients unimproved (or worse) and clients overwhelmed. So many treatment modalities, drugs and over-the-counter supplements are available that it becomes frustrating just to develop a plan based on solid science.

• Develop a protocol, and stick to it every time you treat a case of laminitis. Many changes can indicate the severity of as well as signal either improvement in or progression of the disease, and you must learn to identify these signs. Consequently, consistency in your approach to diagnosing and treating laminitis is critical.

In my early days of practice, each time I got a call about a suspected laminitis case, I felt like I was doomed to failure because there were no tried-and-true therapies. We had some ideas about which medications to administer, but these only relieved the pain—they didn't treat the disease process. The horse was lame and was going to get better or not; it was that simple. After being in practice some time, I began using the following protocol, which allowed me to approach these cases with confidence and know whether I was dealing with a Grade I, II, III or IV laminitic event (Photos 1-4).